Candle Lovers Unite Series

We all know by now how I love random and different things. We also know my love of all things Candles and Etsy so I thought what better way than to just combine the two. There are some amazing candle makers out on etsy and I need to drool and gush over those beautiful things to someone one(s) who really aren’t able to tell me to shut up because they don’t care (..ahem yeah that’s you dear). So our first stop in this journey is at KokoCandles:

These candles are just amazing. I love candles in different ways than just a jar. I’m always fascinated by the candles that just well don’t look like candles and kokocandles sure has that to offer. Not only do her candles come in various shapes, they are also made with various materials. For example she offers bees wax, gel, and soy candles.  and in various shapes such as food candles (see photo for example), animal candles and even block candles just to mention a few.

What I love about these candles is the fact that they look so realistic that you almost don’t know whether you should eat the candle or light it lol! All of the candles made at Kokocandles are made with only the best materials and if you don’t see something that you are looking for, it looks as if custom orders are available. How fun would THAT be?!

You can tell a lot of time goes into make each of these candles as they are very detailed. Just look at the cupcake (which I’m thinking is my favorite lol) and how close it resembles an actual cupcake! Nothing looks rushed or out of place. This can be said for any candle in the shop. They are just beautiful and I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t love one of these (or more!) as a gift. Plus in those cold winter days/nights there is no better heat than that of a candle. I swear that they warm up our bedroom better than the furnace does lol!

Also if you need the perfect party favor why not check out Kokocandles? Or another personal favorite of mine would be the beetlejuice candle as that’s my FAVORITE movie of all times, it just doesn’t get enough love. That spider hanging on the side of the candle is just screaming fun. Plus how fun would an 8 ball candle be? There is one for sale at Kokocandle.

Now maybe your just not into the whole etsy thing but want to keep up with Kokocandle, well have no fear there are a few ways to do this. You can follow on her personal TWITTER or KokoCandle’s TWITTER, FACEBOOK page, or even MYSPACE. So lots of great ways to stay on top of the latest with Kokocandles.

So I wanna know what do you think of her store? Are there any just jumping out at you?

Is it really almost over?!

I hope everyone had a 2009 and has an even better 2010. We’re off to my dad’s tonight to do Christmas gifts with my sister and nieces, so I wanted to get this out before you know the new year started. Be safe tonight and remember what’s important …. Your family!

Over here in my little corner of the web things are going to be changing. I’m hoping to switch to my own domain name and such in the next coming months but that is also going to mean a complete overhaul of the blog because it’s just not who I am anymore in a sense and because the name can’t come with me lmao! But those changes are going to gradually change and won’t happen without any big signs and warnings lol!

Song of the moment — Superman Tonight

Growing up my first loves were defintiely Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. I’ve heard quite a few stories of me and my uncle rocking out to some jams when I was 4 lol. Also, anyone that knows me knows I’m a superman lover (even if Owen is all about batman lol).

Anyhow, I was playing around on myspace and came across the latest Bon Jovi album and gave it a listen. I love it of course, classic Bon Jovi sound but I think my favorite song on the cd is Superman Tonight. For those of you that haven’t heard it here is a snippet of the lyrics which I pulled from AZ Lyrics this line is what hooked me into the song, that and Jon’s beautiful vocals lol.

You’re looking for a hero, but it’s just my old tattoo
Tonight I swear I’d sell my soul to be a hero for you

This song they played when they did SNL a couple weeks ago and I believe it is the song they used for the WWE Tribute to the Troops but that I can’t remember. It’s just a great song that I’ve seriously listened to for at least 2 hrs while I’ve been busy blogging and looking at old photos. So enjoy =)

Needing Boots

It’s winter here in the Midwest and as usual I have NO boots. I mean I am anti snow so I don’t need some big fluffy ones, just you know ones to slip on/grab and go when I’m running to the store or just being outside. But yeah it’s hard to find ones I like. After looking around online I found some ADORABLE boots at Zappos that I just have to share with you guys, I mean it’s no fun finding cute stuff and not being able to show it off lol. Plus the hubster doesn’t give a damn about most of the stuff I like so that’s what I get to torture you guys with lol!

How adorable are these shoes? These Circa The Street boots are so cute! I don’t know if it’s the fact that they are pink or if it’s because of the polkadot pattern on the inside. Maybe it’s because you can wear them either up or down, I don’t know but you these are just hot and I think I need to add them to my wardrobe since they could give you two different looks. Kinda like the mullet: Business in the front and party in the back …. or not I’m just saying lol!

Then I ran across these beautiful Gabriella Rocha Garland and thought I just had to have them (yeah I know I said that about the ones above but seriously you can never have enough shoes/boots can you?). The side detail is pretty neat and they look like they’d keep my legs partly warm too (hey there HAS to be a plus side to being short lol). I like the fact that they offer a bit of a heel on them with out me having to worry about my safety (a self proclaimed klutz walking around on snow and ice in a boot with a heel is just ASKING for a doctor’s visit).

So then there was these Harley Davidson Pamela boots and I thought how cute are these. Now I’m no biker chick, but I do love the design on the boots. Plus they don’t look like they are Harley boots now do they? Of course not. The detailing on these is really impressive and they look awefully warm. Again I love that there is a heel but I don’t have to worry about killing myself in them to look hot. These may be the boots for me, but *sigh* I just don’t know. I hate making decisions, so I found myself  ONE more pair of boots that I’m in love with and then I’ll have to decide before my poor little piggies fall off from the freezing cold and melted snow since my tennis shoes are just not cutting it anymore.

Now these are fun for many reasons and I THINK ladies and gentlemen that I have found THE boot for me this winter. First thing I’m loving about the Reily W boot from Vans would be that …. well it’s made by Vans. Next would be the awesome bottom of the boot. It’s like a tennis shoe and that is pretty neat to me lol. Finally I really like the closure on the boot. The way it’s designed is rad and I’ve not seen another (non vans) type of boot like this. Yeah I believe that this very well may be my boot but lets hope that the hubby agrees because I can NOT go another snowy/icy/wintery day without some kinda boots I just can’t my poor toes are going to get frost bite … lol.

Oh! I almost forgot, in the never ending quest of finding the perfect boot, I found these adorable rain boots I had to share because they are well just rad and I will need them when it rains lol! Come on we all know rain boots are the new in thing this year … what?! They aren’t gosh well why not! Plus they come in STARS and PINK/ZEBRA PRINT my two most favorite things in the whole world … or closely anyhow. I mean you can not tell me that you wouldn’t feel like hot stuff walking around in these? The Kamik Star rain boots are so cute and seriously being short I’m starting to think I need rain boots because well I’m tired of my pants getting wet at the bottom lol!

Okay so maybe those are not mature enough for your tastes, well what about these hot Pink/Zebra print rain boots, you have to admit you’d look good in these! I am seriously head over heels in love with these Gabriella Rocha RB Safari-Z rain boots. I’m a lover of anything that is funky and stands out so of course this is right up my alley. I might buy them just to wear them ALL the time.

So what do you think? Which snow boots do you like?

Wordless Wednesday: Best of 09

The best of 2009 from my personal facebook:

Santa’s Secrets: Personalized Ornaments

Ever since my son was born my mother in law has started a tradition that I love. She has gotten him a personalized ornament (or two lol) for every year he has been with us. I love it and so does Owen. I love how different they are and at the same time they are extra special because they have a meaning behind them.

So when I was offered to do a review of Cafepress’ personalized ornaments I was extremely excited. I thought that this was a great way to jump in on this tradition and share our love with Owen. Plus I love a tree that has more meaningful ornaments to it than just the normal the regular ones that you put up to fill those bear spots lol!

Now this is a new program that Cafepress has started with the personalized ornaments. The process of creating a personalized ornament is easy as well. Cafepress offers tools that help you a lot.

Part of showing you guys the ornament making process I got to make two personalized ornaments. I thought that while it’s been a good year for us, there was one time that was so special to my dad. It was the ONE time me, my son, my two siblings and two nieces were all in one spot to get a photo. I knew it was a great one and that my dad would just LOVE it … boy was I right. He was so excited about it that I don’t think he took it out of his pocket all night. He FINALLY put it on the tree the next night after showing to EVERYONE he knew. I knew it was a special moment for him and that this would be a great way for it to get remembered every single year.

Cafepress assures you that making your own ornaments is easy. Here is what the site says:

• Design your personalized ornaments in minutes with our online designer.
• Create great photo ornaments with our creative templates.
• Choose from multiple styles of Christmas ornaments.
• High quality porcelain.
• Fast shipping and 100% satisfaction guarantee

I couldn’t agree more. It took me literally about 10 minuets to make BOTH ornaments, mainly because I didn’t know what photos I wanted to use. Once I got that figured out it was easy peasy getting them made. Cafepress offers a wide variety of ornament options as well and even lets you choose between round or oval ornaments. Also the shipping time was right on, if not earlier than what they estimated. I was excited about that because it gave me time to figure out what to do with my dad’s.

The next time you need an ornament, why not check out Cafepress’ personalize ornaments to give your gift that extra special touch. Plus who doesn’t love personalized things lol!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Traditions

This is my daddy’s first year with a fake tree. Growing up we’ve ALWAYS had a huge real tree. So he has had a really not great year and the year ended not so great last year. I told him why not start a new ‘tradition’, why not have an artifical tree and lets make new memories with this (Plus in a house with two other boys that’s less for them to worry about) so Owen, my niece, and I decorated it and here it is:

Santa’s Secrets: Blush Giveaway

*Contest is Closed*

If there is ONE thing I dislike is when my back or crack is showing EVERY time I’m bending over to do something. Being the mother of an active 5 year old I’m doing that quite often lol! So when I heard about Blush Accessories I was quite excited. I could actually wear my “cute” jeans again and not worry about things hanging out lol!

Now if you’ve NEVER heard of this company before, prepare to be amazed because it’s such a neat idea. Here is some information about them taken from their website:

Blush Accessories welcomes you to a product that helps adjust the clothes you already have to fit you perfectly. This is a shirt that is to be worn like a tube top, but around the waist. Our product is made of a poly/rayon/spandex blend, allowing a huge amount of stretch and great support.

In a society where it seem the pants are getting lower and lower, while the shirts are getting shorter and shorter I was sad that I had to shelf some of my favorite pairs of jeans just to feel comfortable in them. Also, I hated finding a cute top only to have my boobs just trying to show off to the world. It was always my luck that those shirts wouldn’t fit right if I was wearing a tank top under it and really that only made the problem worse lol. But adding the undershirt really makes a difference because it’s the right texture and doesn’t add any extra weight to what you’re wearing. I also really liked that you couldn’t even tell that it was not a layered tank or that the shirt came like this. Also, when wearing them

These undershirts are offered in a variety of colors and even a few patterns. These stylish undershirts are easy to coordinate with just about any shirt you have. These are even able to be used while pregnant and/or nursing. Please note that the maternity section is NOT a seperate part of Blush Accessories and they are the SAME as the ones listed for everyone, they just are being modeled to show what they’d look like on a pregnant woman.

I was given the black lace to review and I really liked it. I admit it was a bit odd at first but that was, as stated, the very first time I had even tried one on. The oddness of it lasted briefly and was easily able to forget it was even on by the time the day was done. These can be washed along with your clothes and tumble dry or even hang to dry, so these don’t even require any extra maintenance and who doesn’t love that right? Plus they are affordable too. A solid color shirt sells for $15.00 and a lacy/patterned shirt sells for $20.00. If you’d like to buy a Blush Accessories shirt you can order from their website or they offer a list of retailers (both online shops and stores in select areas) that carry them too.

One lucky Creatively Yours reader will get their very own Blush Accessories shirt! Entering can not be any easier. After looking around their site tell me which color/pattern you’d love to wear with your favorite shirt/jeans.

Extra enteries:

• Follow my blog
  
• comment on any of my other posts (please comment with what post it is)
  
• Follow me on TWITTER
  
• Sign up for my RSS feed 
• Sign up for my newsletter
• Email 2 people about this giveaway and include me in the CC (email on profile)
  
• Blog this giveaway
• Tweet this giveaway: I entered to win a Blush Accessory shirt at @creativelyyours and you can too! http://bit.ly/6Fpnyj (unlimited )
  

This giveaway ends 12/29/2009 at 11:59 cst

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Santa’s Secrets: Giant Fortune Cookie Giveaway

*Contest is Closed*

Now if you had to ask me what my favorite kind of food would be, I’d have to say Chinese food. I love it, though my favorite part is always the fortune cookie. My husband isn’t that big of a fan, he always says the cookies just taste so plain. Well that sure changed his mind when I received a Giant Fortune Cookie in the mail. I knew it was going to be a huge cookie but let me tell you that I was shocked at how big it actually was lol!

I was given the Gingerbread Fortune Cookie to review and let me tell you that I am not a huge gingerbread lover but this cookie was SO yummy! Now before I get in to that I have to tell you how adorable this thing is when you get it in the mail. First it shows up in this white box and when you open up the box there is this beautiful giant cookie sitting on top of this colored crinkle paper. The cookie was wrapped in French-style Cellophane and tied with a bow. The best part about this beautiful presentation is that if you’re giving them as gifts they do all the work for you! Now they looked so pretty I almost didn’t want to eat it…. almost lol.

I could describe for you how this cookie tasted but I have to share with you the great description on their website since it was way to fun:

This gourmet holiday idea breaks the mold. To create this special giant fortune cookie treat we took gingerbread men, broke them into pieces and created the first giant gingerbread fortune cookies, covered with chunks of gingerbread crumble and white chocolate.

How fun does this make them sound? As I said, I am not a huge gingerbread lover but I AM a white chocolate lover and let me tell you this combination is just amazing. I loved that there wasn’t an overwhelming taste of gingerbread in these fortune cookies but just the right amount of it for even the less loving of gingerbread flavor to enjoy. This cookie weights in at 1lb … yes that’s right, and is 7″ wide and 5″ tall.  Now maybe gingerbread just isn’t the right flavor for you, well they have other holiday flavors as well.

 This beautiful cookie to your left is called the Holiday Cheer Giant Fortune Cookie and how pretty does this look? This cookie is dipped in milk chocolate and covered in Christmas colored sprinkles. How pretty does this look? This would make a great gift for anyone that’s been nice on your holiday list this year! (Hey Santa isn’t the only one keeping a naughty and nice list is he?)

Or maybe Christmas isn’t your kinda holiday. they also offer Hanukkah Giant Fortune Cookies and these are … you guessed it, beautiful. I think the colors on this cookie just pop off of it for some reason. Maybe it’s the baby blue sprinkles that are placed on top of the dipped milk chocolate. Maybe it’s that going against the color of the cookie. I don’t know but I would love to get this any day of Hanukkah, shoot I’d love to get this just because lol! As always this gift comes wrapped in French-style cellophane and placed inside a pretty white box ready to be given out.

Now maybe you just don’t want to send a holiday themed cookie. I’m sure you’re stumped on what other ones would be great gifts. Well I can tell you they all would be but some of my favorites that I’ve been drooling over would have to be the Gourmet Hazelnut Giant Fortune Cookie dipped in milk chocolate and carefully rolled in fresh chopped hazelnuts. I am a huge hazelnut fan and I can just imagine how yummy this one is. Or maybe you are wanting to try something different. Then why not try the Romantic Assorted Chocolate Cherry-Bomb Fortune Cookies? These cookies come in a really beautiful tin and are cherry flavored fortune cookies that are dipped in an assortment of Milk-chocolate, dark-chocolate and white-chocolate and rolled in cute hand-crafted red heart sprinkles. How yummy does that sound? These would make the perfect gift for Valentine’s day or any day you want to show someone you really do love them!

I can also see the many great ways these cookies can be given as gifts. I mean besides the obvious, what if you need to make up to your wife/girlfriend or husband/boyfriend, they wouldn’t be able to NOT forgive you if they were given one of these (but please don’t quote me on that one lol), or heck even a just because or pick me up would be a prefect reason to have one of these tasty snacks! So remember the next time you need a unique and different gift try the Giant Fortune Cookies (or also known as Fancy Fortune Cookies)

Now the best part, one lucky Creatively Yours reader will get to win their own Giant Fortune Cookie of their choice! All you have to do is visit their site and tell me what your favorite flavor is.

Now for extra entries:

• Follow my blog
• comment on any of my other posts (please comment with what post it is)
  
• Follow me on TWITTER
• Follow Giant Fortune Cookie on TWITTER
• Follow Giant Fortune Cookie on Facebook
  
• Sign up for my RSS feed
  
• Sign up for my newsletter
• Email 2 people about this giveaway and include me in the CC (email on profile)
  
• Blog this giveaway
• I entered to win a Giant Fortune Cookie from @fortuneaday and @creativelyyours and you can too! http://bit.ly/5lRu49

This giveaway ends on 12/26/09 at 11:59 cst

*I was given a free free product and/or was paid for this review. Any opinions expressed are my own and are not influenced in any way.

Wordless Wednesday: For Shellie

 This just seemed like a great friend quote to share and it’s one of my favorites:

Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry.. .I’m here. The flood waters will recede…The famine will end…The sun will shine tomorrow…and I will always be here to take care of you. – Charlie Brown